Chevrolet Cruze

While the Cruze is a versatile compact, it’s more for those who value comfort and practicality over sheer driving fun. A 138-hp, 1.8-liter four-cylinder is standard, but an optional 1.4-liter turbo four-cylinder offers a bit more zest and efficiency. A 151-hp, 2.0-liter turbodiesel four is the choice for penny pinchers, though, with lofty fuel-economy numbers and an even longer driving range. OnStar, smartphone integration, and onboard Wi-Fi make the Cruze a well-connected set of wheels. Official Photos and Info – 2015 Chevrolet Cruze

2015 Chevrolet Cruze: Quiet Competence, Continued

The bow-tie brand's small sedan gets a new face ahead of an impending redesign.

Not all Chevrolet Cruzes are created equal—at least, not this year. China is getting an all-new Cruze, one that shares some similarities to the upcoming next-generation global model, which eventually will make its way here to the U.S. So don’t confuse that car with the Cruze you see here: a mildly refreshed version of the current sedan that will serve as a placeholder until the redesigned global car debuts sometime in the next two years.

Before you lament China’s getting a new Cruze before we do, know that it’s a unique, for-China-only model that is built in that country, for that country. Our Cruze might not be as fresh, but the 2015 model debuting at the 2014 New York auto show builds on the handsome and competent sedan that replaced the woefully boring—and, as it turns out, ignition-issue-stricken—Cobalt back in 2010.

Cruzing Toward the Rest of the Family

Chevrolet has imbued the four-door with a new upper and lower grille evocative of the solidly good-looking Impala’s maw. We’re not sure the swept-back grille works as well here, given how seemingly high it has been placed on the Cruze’s front end, but it certainly pulls the Cruze into line with Chevrolet’s other sedans. We dig the new lower fascia treatment, which comes with LED running lights on LT and LTZ trim levels, though. Chevy didn’t change anything, it seems, about the Cruze’s butt.

A host of minor changes highlight the 2015 Cruze’s interior, which benefits from revised cup holders, the trunk-release button has been relocated to the center console, and the door lock buttons have migrated from the console to the doors. The Cruze also is the latest Chevrolet product to inherit an available built-in 4G LTE data connection, which also turns the car into a Wi-Fi hot spot. The 4G connection enables access to Chevy’s AppShop native app marketplace—when it comes fully online. Apple Siri Eyes Free integration also is on the docket of tech improvements, and it allows iPhone iOS 6 and iOS 7 users to ask the Siri personal assistant whatever they want while on the move. Finally, Chevy added text message alerts to the options list, which can read incoming texts aloud to the driver.

If you liked the Cruze’s powertrains before, good news, because they’ve transitioned from 2014 to 2015 unchanged. Base models still get a 138-hp, 1.8-liter four, while a more efficient 138-hp, turbocharged 1.4-liter four (making 148 lb-ft of torque vs. the 1.8-liter’s 125 lb-ft) remains optional. The Cruze diesel lives on for 2015, and its 151-hp, 2.0-liter turbo-diesel four-cylinder again earns a top-notch EPA fuel-economy rating of 46 mpg. The gasoline-powered Cruze Eco, which uses the 1.4-liter turbo, again hits 42 mpg on the highway. All four Cruze trim levels (LS, LT, RS, and LTZ) carry over to 2015, and we don’t expect any major price increases over last year’s equivalent models.

Chevrolet doesn’t list any mechanical updates outside of the engine bay, but we find today’s Cruze to be a decent-driving and quiet conveyance, so aside from an injection of sportiness, it isn’t wanting for much. We’d of course still pick the Mazda 3, Ford Focus, or Euro-tastic Volkswagen Jetta were we shopping for a compact sedan, but the Cruze should remain a solid, if unexciting, choice.

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